Artist Wears Her CHOICE on Her Sleeve

Michele Pred is a Swedish-American conceptual artist who works with found and confiscated objects and technology, and breathes new life and meaning into them through creative reconstruction—an unforgettable marriage of art, ecology, and social commentary.

Her latest works, “Pro Choice” expresses her frustration with the growing national attack on women’s health care and access to birth control—from restrictions on abortion in dozens of states to reduced coverage for women’s preventative care to the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the availability of conception.

The works include a vintage hat case with “Choice” spelled out on it in neon letters, as well as a series of portable battery-operated neon purses. The purses are for sale, and are meant to be carried to promote a pro-choice statement on reproductive rights. Pred will donate 5 percent of sale proceeds to a local organization that provides women’s services.

It’s not the first time Pred’s concern for the subject has been showcased in her art. In 2012, Pred was part of the contemporary art fair, Art Miami, with her provocative exhibit, “Miss Conception, ”in which she stood for two hours wearing a birth control pill-studded gown, tiara, scepter, and sash.

"My art is really about igniting dialogue," she said. "Whether you agree or like what I'm doing, it's about provoking a conversation."

Her studio is filled with boxes in which she sorts her found and repurposed items. Pred says of her materials, “The diverse array of assembled ‘dangerous’ items may be regarded as the cultural residue of a particular moment in history…each small tool, like each of us, bears some weight of the changed world.”

Pred’s work has been exhibited internationally, and is in the permanent collection of the 21st Century Museum, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) New York, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, the Di Rosa Museum in Napa CA, and is held in numerous corporate and private collections. Pred received her BFA from the California College of the Arts, where she is now an adjunct Professor.

Pred is fearlessly political and material inventive—a truly unique and wholly modern artist.--SF